Thomson have started to do their E tickets via email, that one now have to print off, also you can now check in online to do just a bag drop on the morning, not much advantage to us, as we always arrive early at Gatwick anyway and don't normally have to queue but interested to see how it worked in Greece coming home lol

so Sunday Day 1,

With little sleep (I think an hour) we departed at 2.30 for Gatwick ready for the 4.00am check in / bag drop. To us, the bag drop counter looked the same as the old check in but now had bag drop over the counter, those that didn't book in on line were directed elsewhere but clearly there weren't many passengers that hadn't adoped the new system. We didn't have to wait long but as far as I could see, not much benefit for using my printer ink as opposed to theirs lol, as we still had to show the passport, e-tickets scanned and weigh the bags.

After a bacon roll and a coffee at 4.30am for £4.95 cheapest, the gate was called at 5.00am and the long walk around Gatwick. At the gate, I couldn't see the Thomson plane but soon they started calling seat numbers from the back of the plane, and people queued for what seemed ages, and as it was finally our turn, it became clear why. Passports had to be shown again, printed boarding passes printed off by people scanned and with no perforation on it, they had to be ripped in half and they kept half of it. This made the plane late by 25 minutes

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However, the pilot told us the flight time was 2 hours 45 minutes, so it wasn't too bad and we were underway :clap:

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after coffee and tea at £2.60 and £2.50

and a little kip, we were flying over Sofia at just a quarter to nine, the same position I had tracked the plane the week before

at 9.05 we could see Kavala and the plane positioned itself to land

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And after landing the plane taxied very near the building and we just walked in for passport checks

The carousel hadn't started but Mrs Db joined a queue for the WC and by the time she was out, I had to queue in the men's lol, however, on my exit I saw Mrs Db struggling to get our cases off the carousel as our cases came out first , so now outside the rep holding a Thomson banner, "Mrs and Mrs Delboy", I said, coach D said the rep, just across the road.

with our bags taken from us by the driver

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we were first on the coach at 9.36am lol

However, we had to wait for the other passengers and at 10.01am we were underway to the Keramoti harbour

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anyway the rep did her talk, as to what to expect, "you can leave you luggage on the coach but take anything valuable with you on the ferry", "when we get there", she said,"wait on the coach and I will check which ferry we are on"

At just 10.18 am we had our first glimpse of the ferry and the rep got off the coach

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after a minute she was back on board the coach, "today we are on the red ferry, just board the ferry and go up the side stairs on deck, your luggage is locked on he coach which goes on the ferry with you, you are in coach D and watch out for the coach on the left hand side"

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Now didn't I tell you this holiday would be different, last year it was the blue and white ferry lol

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I talked Mrs Db into going outside for the Dolphin watch, whilst I had a look around the boat

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There was a higher deck but she wasn't going to go up there, not really the crows nest is it lol

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Anyway, whilst the ferry was loading I decided to get a beer, Mrs Db only wanted water to keep a sharp eye out for Dolphins (not seen by us last year), so I queued up in the air conditioned lounge for the beer, a place Mrs Db would have preferred

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before I got my beer and Mrs Db's water, the engines of the boat vibrated and we were underway

2.50€'s for the beer and a litre of water is not robbery on a ferry is it

The sun was shining and this year the seagulls were feeding, was that his finger the seagull got

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"I'd like a go at that", said the dog

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a ferry passes us going back and a passenger shows two bread sticks to the boat lol

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got it this time lol

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"Welcome back to Thassos Delboy, follow me, I'll show you the way", is what the seagull may be saying, but looking more closely, he does look a bit grumpy and could be thinking, "back again just like the rest of you " lol

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in all this excitement, Thassos was fast approaching and Mrs Db hadn't spotted any dolphins for us, well you just can't get the staff these days lol

and the view of Thassos town fast approached us

Ferry ramp coming down

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and at 11.14am UK time, we had docked but remember Greek time is two hours on, but for the process of this journey, I'll stick to Uk time

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one of the harbours there

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so everybody off

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the Thomson coach C was the first to get off

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fairly simple procedure really

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Then it's back on the same coach but this is where we find out that coach D is really for Thassos Town with and an overspill from coach C which was going to Golden beach direct :

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so here we are at the Thesis hotel

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the Eden

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and around the town again as the roads are blocked with traffic to the Hotel Lido

So after a bit of unpacking, it was down to the Cava D' Oro Oro resto for a bit of lunch,

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the owner greeted us back and gave us two beers on the house

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The menu had changed a bit and we couldn't get gyros's at lunchtime anymore

so now in Greek time we got a lunch at 3.30pm a burger and chips 5€'s and a greek salad 6 €'s to share between the two of us

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and then just had a wanderer down to the end of the beach to see how thing were

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Then after a cup of tea on the balcony, it was time to get ready for the evening

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We were both very tired, so the thought was somewhere local and not too far, so we chose to go to Playa D' Oro but they had an electrical cut and it would be another 30 minutes or more before they could start cooking, so we walked along to Finikas

Someone suggest that I should try the fish in Thassos, as it was so nice and making this holiday different I chose sea bass

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Mrs Db chose Baltimore Chicken but the waitress said the fish would take a little long but wasn's sure how it would come or whether they would have to go out to catch it or defrost it,

no it would be lovely, oh it's still got a head and tail but also had a side dish of potatos and carrots and other things, it was very nice but I do like my steaks, but fish is much healthier

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Mrs Db's Baltimore Chicken was in a mushroom sauce and she said it was very nice

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a litre of their house red was 6.50€'s

Afterwards these people are so generous they give you a free pudding to share, oh I nearly started eating that chocolate cake before photographing it, well it was a long day lol

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Then they give you a free shot of ouzo each, so i have to drink Mrs Db's as well lol,

the evening was nice a cool and air conditioning wasn't needed but another busy day tomorrow

I awoke early to find the sun just coming up around 6am (4am uk time), so just snapped a picture but the sun is behind the tree from our balcony

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but I think i got up for breakfast at a more reasonable hour but the balcony was hot lol

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The hotel owners would cook a breakfast for you for 6€'s but we just made our own, we couldn't do with a fry up as well as the other stuff.

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At 9am there was a knock on the door, the owner's father had brought Mrs Db a cucumber from his garden

so after breakfast it was down to the beach

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now Mrs Db was going to read her Kindle, whilst I was eyeing up to whether I could climb the mountain from it's lower end

I only had beach sandals on but was going to have a sortie up the mountainside to see if it were possible lol

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Having gone last year to Blue Bay Hotel which is near the end of the resort, I needed to get above that hotel

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so picked the higher road to Blue Bay Hotel, the hotel in the distance but found another road going up before it

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to cut a long story a bit shorter lol, I came to a dead end with me looking at a pathway going up that a goat might use, well I took a chance in sandals and ended up scrambling to the top of another road that a car was on lol

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so looking down, we will discard that route next time and find the road lol

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so following the road up a bit with the harbour down below

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I find a pathway going up even higher, now we are in business but I haven't documented it as it was a route I wouldn't recommend to the goats at this time

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however, i trudged up the pathway for a long spell, reserving some water and just having small sips

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A the top the pathway divided and i took the pathway to the left towards Golden beach which continued to rise

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The further i climbed I was begining to get stunning views of Golden beach

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but the top of the mountain was always just out of my reach

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I only had sandals on and water was now limited but I have the whole holiday to discover these places and it was time to go down

as I got down to the road at the bottom, I met a guy who had come off a quad bike, he told me, the road dipped and something went wrong with the braking, he thought he was going over the side of the mountain and leaped off, grazing both of his legs, the bike obviously went into the side of the mountain rather than going over the end. His friend took over the quad with the owners towing it down whilst the injured guy rode the other bike down. He was ok but a bit shocked and very lucky

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I followed the road down to find the better route for next time lol

back to Mrs Db, I was quite excited of my find and looking forward for a better crack at it tomorrow

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so lunchtime was just above the beach, which had provided free sunbeds provided we ate there

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we went for the offers, I had a club sandwich with 118 chips and a large beer for 7€'s

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Mrs Db went for the burger and chips with a large beer for 6€'s

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the afternoon was spent on the beach

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followed by a cool drink on the balcony

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this evening we would try the Enavlion our favourite restaurant, slightly dearer than the other restaurants but has the works, napkins, tableclothes and quality

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The bread and dips comes as a small cover charge of 2.60

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we start with pancakes between us

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The house red is 9.80 a litre and i got the blame of Mrs Db's red face for forcing her up on deck without suntan lotion

Another nice morning and I was still keen to get to the top of the mountain, i noticed a pathway going right above the route I took yesterday and was using the camera to try and locate it

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This time I was more prepared, I had my trainers, a bumbag with my phone, wipes, money for a taxi/or drink, camera and a larger ltr bottle of water.

But first of all I went down to the beach with Mrs Db

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and had a cold frappe before the climb lol

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so off i go passed the Vigli's restaurant

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this time, i'm taking the proper road which runs around the coast to start with

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passed these group of hotels

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and on passed another hotel with an elevated swimming pool

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staying on the higher road here

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this is the road around the island and at this point it has become a dirt track lol, buses would have to go over the mountains at Panagia to get to Thassos town but "hi Delboy, is this the way to marble beach" ?, well looking at your map your going in the right direction

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anyway, they roared off and I continued my walk passed this castle looking building

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just beyond it was the road that takes me up the mountain

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Just checking Mrs Db is ok before I go higher lol

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so we have now found the pathway up which any walker could do

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and not the goat path I scrabbled up yesterday lol

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so we need to get to the top of this pathway

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and this time take the path on the right which continues to go up

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soon i was climbing high

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and down below was the coastal road in the distance

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along here was probably my best chance of reaching the top

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but annoyingly gorse bushes were in the way

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so I continued along the pathway, eventually going around the headland, where a peninsular jutted out with what could be a goat farm on it

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and beyond a nice looking cove with a secluded beach

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difficult to get depth of field with the camera picking up plant life as the focus but trying hard lol

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now could I make Marble Beach, much talked about on forums lol

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at this point I met a couple called Mike and Sue who were as surprised to see me, as I was them, "how far is Marble Beach and can I get to it from here", I asked. Well Mike showed me his map and said there use to be a way down further along but had been blocked off with marble. We said our goodbyes and I carried on passing the said block

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so i continued along the path which I think are really fire breaks should a forest fire start

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eventually I came to the marble quarry, where they cut out the marble from the mountain, it does leave a bit of a scar once cut but money rules everything

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I did look for a way down but would actually go into the quarry if I followed it down which is not allowed, 'health and safety' lol

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The views beyond were nice but I was coming to halfway with my water / and energy and it was a long walk back, no taxi's up here lol

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but Delboy was thinking about that pathway blocked with a stone, perhaps it's just to stop quad bikes

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I can squeeze though that lol

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so down I go

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and just around the bend

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They are cutting the walkway away with a crane, oh my bit that I'm standing on might be next, better move back up lol

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so it was the long walk back to Mrs Db, oh there's a big ship in the harbour at Potamia

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something else to find out about

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back at Mrs Db's I had reached my limits today and a cold bottle of water went down well

Just healthy salads today plus a large beer of course

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2 hours 50 minutes that's walk not bad for someone who had only walked to the barber's for exercise a week before

so an afternoon on the beach, now who owns that boat, it even has parasols and chairs floating in the water at the back

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soon it was evening and England were playing their last World Cup match, we had a flat screen tele in our room which picked up only BBC world news and Football with Greek commentary, something to watch whilst we were getting changed but after 18 minutes the satelite moved and we ended up with a pretty picture and saved us getting involved with a 0-0 draw

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plenty of bars / restos showing it outside and in the bar downstairs

tonight we picked Vigli's for our meal

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a dip of crushed olives with the bread

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I had the chateaubriand for one, very nice it was too lol

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Mrs Db had the rib steak but quite a lot of bone but the meat was nice

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I don't have the price of the house red but it wasn't expensive around 8€'s per litre I would guess but no resto charged us more than 9.90€'s and the cheapest was only 6€'s

It was going to be an easy day today, as I dont want to over do the walking and get an injury lol but quite important as new ideas come to light after walking to Potamia to find out who owns the yacht. So firstly it was down to the beach

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before setting off to Potamia harbour passing the Alexandra Golden which is next door to our place, apparently a large beer is 6€'s in there, only 3€'s in ours lol

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I always go over the stepping stones when Mrs Db is not here

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look Mrs Db there are no crocs lol

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Then down this road which really connects Skala Potamia to Golden Beach (which is also called Skala Panagia)

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we always take a torch with us in the evenings as there isn't much lighting, there isn't any danger but you can see what your treading in or on lol, it's not far about 4 mins walk the supermaket is just passed those two trees

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here's the supermarket

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there seems to be 3 roads running parallel along Potamia, the one at the beach with the restos, the middle one (which I am on) with lots of accommodation and the main one which the buses use

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anyway I'll get to the coast for the boat lol

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So here I am at the sea front and you can see the boat through the resto

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so now down to the harbour

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Last year's dodgem cars have gone lol

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so here I was trying to get photographs of the boat to pick up it's name

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and I spotted some faces I had seen before, "Do you know who owns the boat", I asked. "Glad you made it yesterday, did you get to Marble Bay?", came the reply, "No, time ran out" I replied, it was Mike and Sue that I had met on the ridge yesterday. "We thought you look like death when we saw you lol", well Mrs Db always thinks I look like that.

"The Boat is owned by the Minister of Qatar, the rumour is Prince Charles and Camilla are aboard", said Mike, "Oh", I said, moving closer to the boat

Well Camilla isn't sunbathing yet lol

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I said, "I might walk to Panagia tomorrow", "have you seen the Dragon's cave",said Mike,"we tried to look but only had our phones as lights, it's too dark unless you have a torch", "Oh I have a torch, I might try that", I bravely replied

We said our goodbyes again and I headed back to Mrs Db with a new adventure for tomorrow

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oh, sex on the beach is cheap this year

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nice touch to his/her sunbeds, I wonder if Rodney has watered my flowers back home yet lol

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just loads of resto's down here, prices seem cheaper at this end, beers 2.5€'s are common, cocktail 5€'s too

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Then we have all the Shirley Valentine chairs again but I said I wouldn't repeat it all again but here I am doing it lol

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so i'll stop and get back to Mrs Db

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So at the Cava Doro resto, Mrs Db picks a tuna salad

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and I go for an omelette

just the sort of food for us walkers but some omelette

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Over lunch I tell Mrs Db that the boat is owned by the Minister of Qatar and the rumour is Prince Charles and Camilla are on board. "I don't know how these rumours start", said Mrs Db, "nor do I", I replied. I'll ask the waiter, "Do you know who owns the boat" but he didn't know.

One of the Customers then comes up, "I heard you asking about the boat, it's owned by the Minister of Qatar", "Oh that's what I have heard and I have heard from a very reliable source that Prince Charles and Camilla are aboard" lol

the rest of the afternoon was spent on the beach, every beach masseur asked me if i wanted a massage "It had to be the walk from yesterday"

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The evening we are going to the Green Sea, quite well thought of resto on TA

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we shared a starter of cheese balls which were really nice

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I had the Lamb Souvalaki but for me lacked some sort of sauce and not the best chips.

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Mrs Db had the chicken in a gipsy sauce and said hers was fine, so just a poor choice by me really

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a nice evening, now did I spot Charles and Camilla in that launch coming in for dinner lol

a strange mist rolled down the mountain as I prepared to head to Panagia to seek out this Dragon's Cave that nobody had talked about on the train trip.

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The Greeks always have myths and legends to their past, why is the cave beneath the bowels of Panagia not talked about?. Could it be that the dragon demanded a virgin sacrifice every month to leave the villager's in peace. Perhaps the Panagia myth of drinking the water from the Kissing fountain had something to do with the dragons death, as all the virgins had become pregnant. Now I'm not starting any rumours lol

As Delboy packs his torch, water, camera and money in his bag and then sets off, the mist had now cleared. I found this pathway near the Marina Hotel to avoid walking on part of the main road

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This will be a testing walk for me, up hill all the way

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I met a couple part way along and asked if they new any paths to Panagia that would keep me away from the main road, "Well you do have to walk the main road for quite a way but listen out for running water and look out for a bright yellow bungalow and there is a path on the left to take to Panagia

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at this point, unfortunately I now had to join the main road but just turned back to recognise the entrance of that pathway back, ah down the side of the Aneton, i must remember that

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So now on the main road and every bungalow was some shade of yellow

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Listen for 'the sound of running water' to find the path was the first clue and sounding like a line from Indiana Jones looking for the Holy Grail lol

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Then I came to this corner, could this be the sound of running water ?

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I stopped and rested but couldn't see a bright yellow bungalow

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I carried on and could see Panagia high in the mountainside

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and further up the road then suddenly on the left I could hear water rushing by my feet

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and then the bright yellow bungalow

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I had found the pathway to the dragon's cave, well that could have put neon lights on it lol

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follow the path of running water and ye shall get there lol

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after going up hill for an age, I finally reached a sign of decisions, do I go to Panagia first or the cave ?

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"are you going to the cave" a voice came from behind, It was a Germaan guy,

"yes", I replied bravely

"do you have a torch?",said the German

"Yes I have a torch, up here torches are precious, do you want to join me " I replied

So we journeyed on to the Dragon's Cave together and sounding more like another adventure by J J R Tolkien

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I didn't know my new companion's name, so I will call him Hans, as it's a short German name lol

Finally we reach the entrance, no guides here to show the way lol

This must be the entrance, it's not very big for the dragon is it Hans

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As i'm holding the torch I suppose I have to go in first............. well it's a £3 Tesco torch not a light sabre and there could be a dragon in there lol

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Well I had a bright torch but honestly the light just defracted, which mean't we could see very little but any dragon could see us

suddenly there was a crack as my shoe trod on something, was it the bones of some unfortunate virgin?, phew shining the torch down it was just old sticks lol

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there are stalactites and mites in here and there was a small crevice in the rocks that I had to go through to check it out, I had rock against my back and rock on my stomach not the place to eat lunch on the other side, as I might not fit through coming back lol however it was a dead end

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we searched every avenue of the cave

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Then Hans declared some knowledge, there is supposed to be what you call flying mice, "Oh, bats you mean", as the torch went up on the ceiling, oh crikey, YES

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Hans said, he once lead a party in a cave but took the wrong route out, thanks for that Hans lol but I can see the way outbut you can see the floor levels in this pic so you definitely need a torch to attempt this

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finally we made our way out

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I thanked Hans for his support and said I would buy him a pint, I have a car, he said, thinking we would drive up into Panagia but he drove me all the way down to Golden beach without seeing Panagia after walking 50 minutes up hill to see it

But we had our pint before going back to Mrs Db

Just to clarify a few points that I checked up afterwards, apparently the cave gets it's name from a dragon's face which appears in the rocks, the cave has never been fully explored and bits of pottery have been found in there from the bronze age.did we miss something, we going to need a bigger torch lol

Today Mrs Db had decided to stay on the beach near our hotel, which are like sand dunes, it's just 5€'s for the parasol and sunbeds on this stretch as no restaurants run them

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nice white sand and only single rows of sunbeds, so not crowded

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we went to the Escape for lunch near the Marina hotel, one of the few doing 2.5€ large beers

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The beers with the menu came quickly but they didnt bother to come back to us

So I took the menu to her lol

toasted sandwiches with shared chips were fine

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so a nice afternoon relaxing on the beach

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This particular evening, we ate in the Playa D' Oro opposite the campsite

It was a cloudy morning but Mrs Db was happy on the beach, as I made the effort to walk to Panagia but this time I was bearing right and not to the dragon's cave lol

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The pathway is steep

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and goes on forever and up lol

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eventually one gets to the top

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so as a start, I thought I would walk up to the Kissing Fountain

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The water cascades down through the village

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of buildings with narrow pathways between

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a lot of the houses have nice views over the valley but seem to be able to keep the view private to them

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The myth is that if you drink the water from the fountain the women become pregnant

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or the get out clause is, you return to Thassos

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This bit I believe is the Kissing Fountain, but i'm sure the outlet pipes would work just as well lol

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This person goes the extra mile with the flowers and is a tourist attraction

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This picture has some significance to me, why, well 9.57 secs ago (lucky Usain it wasn't officially timed lol), I was 100 metres down the road, just walking by an opening in the trees, there I espied 4 large beehives grouped together in a circle around the edges. Well not being an expert of bees, I thought these look quite different, so I just moved in to the edge with the camera to focus it and the most vicious dog lunged out of this hive stretching it's lead as far as it would go, it had snaring teeth, these were obviously dog kennels lol, as I backed away, a second one came lunging out snarling and I ended up in the spot in this picture below, wondering whether the dogs would be after me trailing their kennels behind them.

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PS I wasn't going back for a better picture lol

This place a street away, was making 90% raki and was said to have a guard dog, I think I may have found it, with it's mates lol

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anyway, shaken but not stirred I continued lol

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I have many pics of the place but it was time for me to go back for lunch

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I took the main road down which did seem longer than going up, it was a further 7 kilometres to Thassos Town but not walking that

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As I went down the road the whole mountainside was ringing with a thousand bells

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If I closed my eyes with some imagination, I could have been going down the Olympic Slalom course, COME ON DELBOY you can do it lol and not like the husky event I experienced 30mins earlier

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then it was back to Mrs Db sitting on the beach

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Lunchtime we went to Playa D' Oro

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We shared a hot cheese pie (4.50€'s) and a Greek salad, and the pie was to die for lol

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Loads of butterflies on the dunes but few seem to land

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the rest of the afternoon was spent on the beach

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The evening was spent at the Krambousa in Potamia on a recommendation

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we had the potato, cheese and ham as a starter, oh Mrs Db I hadn't go a photo of that yet

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